We recommend that the Acting Director of HUD’s Newark Office of Public Housing instruct Authority officials to develop and implement an appropriate policy for program income, including the proper use, accounting, and reporting of program income in accordance with the Federal definition and treatment of program income.

Require New Horizons to support that $16,687 in tenant rents was collected and deposited as required or repay the project from nonproject funds.

Require New Horizons to obtain independent management.

Require New Horizons to conduct a review to determine who currently lives in the units and verify their eligibility.

Monitor New Horizons to ensure that it properly maintains tenant files, completes required annual recertifications, and supports disability exemptions in accordance with HUD requirements.

Develop and implement policies and procedures to strengthen HUD’s comprehensive loan-level, postendorsement, and lender reviews by evaluating loans containing downpayment assistance (for example, interest rates, fees, borrower certifications, lender reviews, impact to borrower, related agreements, etc.). Policies and procedures should include evaluating the structure of downpayment assistance programs, including whether the programs’ structure and funding mechanisms comply with all HUD requirements and guidelines.

Acknowledge that $3,173,077 of the $4,250,000, in the attached settlement represents an amount due HUD.

Transfer all escrow funds to a financial institution that is supervised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the National Credit Union Administration and ensure that all deposits are secured by the Federal Government. Any amount not recovered from the Development Bank must be reimbursed to the escrow account from non-Federal funds.

Request sufficient monetary resources to upgrade HUD’s many legacy and financial systems so its technologies and data elements no longer differ and can perform the necessary data inventory and mapping to report HUD’s information in USASpending.gov accurately and in a timely manner.

Ensure that HUD program officials continue taking appropriate steps to fully resolve its errors and data quality issues that the agency identified during implementation, including those related to assigning a unique identifier consistent with the established DATA Act schema, such as the Federal Award Identification Number.

Designate official DATA Act points of contact for FHA and Ginnie Mae and oversee the progress of the two HUD components’ individual implementation plans, ensuring timely and successful completion of their steps.

Finalize required mapping of HUD’s, including FHA’s and Ginnie Mae’s, financial, budgetary and programmatic data, as required by the DATA Act and OMB guidance.

Evaluate the current content of HUD’s financial statement note disclosures to identify outdated or irrelevant information that may not be needed, while maintaining compliance with OMB Circular A-136 and presenting the reader with the information necessary to understand HUD’s financial statements.

Work with FHA and Ginnie Mae to reevaluate the note consolidation process to determine changes that can be made to the process to ensure compliance with financial reporting requirements.

Reassess HUD’s current consolidated financial statement and notes review process to ensure that (1) all reviewers have sufficient financial reporting experience; (2) it includes steps to verify that the notes match HUD’s financial statements, are sufficiently supported, and accurately include FHA and Ginnie Mae information; and the review can be completed within the required timeframe needed to allow for audit.

Develop a plan to ensure that restatements to HUD’s consolidated financial statements are properly reflected in all notes impacted by the restatement.

Acknowledge that the settlement agreement for $5,000 represents an amount due HUD.

We recommend that the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing instruct Seneca Mortgage to repay the $19,136 in ineligible holding costs to the FHA insurance fund.

We recommend that the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing instruct Seneca Mortgage to ensure that reimbursement is not requested for holding costs incurred beyond the conveyance deadline related to FHA loan number 281-3493258.

We recommend that the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing instruct Seneca Mortgage to instruct the investors or holders for FHA loan numbers 501-7067695, 501-6877136, 061-0982338, and 501-5885504 to transfer these loans to FHA-approved servicers.